Hello,

I'm new here so not sure if I'm doing this right!

We recently took our 7 year old house Rabbit to the vets as we thought she had gone blind in one eye.

They did a quick eye test, confirmed that she had in her right eye, and prescribed antibiotics for an ulcer in the same eye.

I went home that night (Friday), went to put the drops in and realised they said ear drops.

They were already closed,

I called in the morning and the Receptionist said they are ear drops for humans but eye drops for animals so they are fine.

I went to put them in straight away,

5 minutes later they phone back questioning if I've used them

the vet tells me they are wrong, she needed 0.5% and was prescribed 5%.

I was told to wash her eye out, and come back to pick up the new drops "at no charge as a gesture of goodwill".

Since having the drops, she stopped eating, drinking and going to the toilet.

I took her to another vet (for an additional £60) on the Tuesday,

who said she needed painkillers because her eye was swollen and her gut wasn't working, and that antibiotics should never be prescribed without a full body check (Which she did not receive at the original appointment).

On the Friday, I took her back to the other vet (Another £60) because she still wasn't eating and dropped from 2.4kg to 1.9kg in a week. Luckily, she's made a recovery but that's just the back story.

I emailed the original vet the day the wrong drops fiasco happened,

complaining that she had been given a 450% overdose and that I wanted an explanation as to how it happened and how 2 separate professionals informed me the drops were ok before I used them.

The manager called me, and said that although it was their mistake that she had been given the wrong drops and they were sorry, it's ok because it was a benign mistake.

I then took my complaint further as no one was accepting that it could of been a real issue,

to the complaints department,

who wrote me a letter saying that they spoke to a Rabbit expert,

and the drops were fine anyway so it didn't matter that the mistake was made.

My opinion is,

they were very lucky that these particular drops did not affect her, but they could of.

No one checked them at the time, and if I hadn't of noticed the label I would of used them twice a day as instructed.

For a Rabbit who has already gone blind and is vulnerable, it is undue stress.

If it was a painkiller she had been administered at a 450% overdose, she probably would of passed away.

All I really want is my original £57 back that I paid for her first appointment and eye drops, because I think they have been careless and negligent towards her well being.

Does anyone have any advice?

If you think you are being fobbed off and they are taking this flippantly then you need to express your concerns to the RCVS https://www.rcvs.org.uk/concerns/

Obvious question, have you specifically requested a refund and been refused?

Can you post up the name/strength/dose details of the drops you were given. Vets do prescribe 'off label' sometimes but they shouldn't do so without specific informed consent however 'benign' they might consider it. If a drug hasn't been tested for a specific purpose at the dose prescribed then most vets would require you to sign a waiver.

i am assuming your first vet gave you generic medicine as this is cheaper for you instead of branded vet medicine.

your first vet says that the overdose was fine and not detrimental to your rabbit. if you have medical information (say from the second vet) to negate the response from your first vet then you could argue this and possibly request refund of second vets bills, refund / payment for second vets bills to come from your first vet?

hope your rabbit has a speedy recovery